The friction could continue to fray relations between the two. | AP Photos

“We’ve got nominations that are out there, we have appropriations that are out there, we have legislation, we have just the powers of friendly persuasion or perhaps persistent persuasion,” Murkowski said. “I’m not giving up on this.”

Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) told POLITICO on Thursday that he plans to introduce a bill next week “to try to force this issue.” He also sits on the Interior appropriations subcommittee and could try to move his bill as a spending rider.

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Murkowski – without naming Begich – was skeptical about legislative solutions, noting that Congress conditionally approved the road in a 2009 omnibus lands package that was signed into law. “And this secretary ignored it,” Murkowski said.

That 2009 law included Democratic language requiring the Fish and Wildlife review that eventually led Jewell to reject the road. Still, Murkowski and Begich believe that Jewell went against the will of Congress.

“That really puts in question future land packages that we have to bring forward,” Begich said. “It makes you now question, is this the new approach, once you have a deal put together you’re going to piecemeal it apart later?”

The Alaska Democrat faces one of the most closely watched and tightest Senate reelection bids this year. He said the Izembek rejection doesn’t affect his relationship with Jewell “because we have so many issues on the agenda” — but he added that “I’m disappointed with her clearly on this one.”

“It won’t wreck my relationship, but it just means we’re going to have to push harder,” Begich said.

Former Interior Secretary Ken Salazar had also sided with Fish and Wildlife’s rejection of a land exchange that would have allowed the road. Later, when Murkowski was threatening to hold up Jewell’s nomination over the road dispute, Salazar promised to have the department take another look.

Murkowski and Begich could have less leverage over pending Interior nominations this time, after Majority Leader Harry Reid changed the Senate filibuster rules late last year.

Murkowski sees the Izembek defeat as part of a larger problem of how people in the West, especially Republicans, feel about the Interior Department’s handling of their states. “This is not just about a road. This is about the bigger picture and how Alaskans view how the federal government is treating them,” she said.

She said it was especially harsh that the rejection came just a couple of days before Christmas, and after she had traveled with Jewell to King Cove in late August.

“And I did not let her off the hook on the timing,” Murkowski said of their Dec. 23 conversation. She said she told Jewell, “My view is that you have chosen to make this decision as we enter the Christmas week hoping that nobody’s going to pay attention to it.”

The Interior official dismissed the idea of a holiday news dump, saying the decision “was announced as soon as it was ready.”

“There’s no good time for bad news,” the official added, echoing a comment Murkowski recalled Jewell making during their phone call.

Izembek is “obviously a very passionately felt issue on both sides,” said Matt Lee-Ashley, who was Salazar’s deputy chief of staff. But he said the historically sound relationship between Interior and Murkowski should continue.

“On balance, when you look at the scope of work that Interior does in Alaska, there’s a huge suite of issues that require collaboration between the department and Alaskan senators,” he said. Those include Arctic permitting and leasing, managing the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, wildlife and plugging abandoning wells, he said.